The End of the War
by Istalindar
Summary: A oneshot at the end of the final battle dealing with its consequences.


Yet another sad one-shot. Considering the state of my life (that is, functional and fairly happy), I am, as my friend Harriet says, remarkably good at writing these. On the other hand, she could just have been flattering me to make me shut up. You never know. Just read it and tell me what you think. Hope you like. Istalindar.

&

Draco Malfoy stared in surprise as he watched the Boy-who-Still-Lived run to him across the corpse-littered battlefield. When Harry arrived, Draco simply waited patiently, unable to think what Potter would want with him. He doubted it was a congratulatory hug.

"She's asking for you, Malfoy." Harry said. Draco narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

"Hermione. She's asking for you." Draco could see how much it pained Potter to say that and smirked.

"Well, I'm right here." He said.

"She's bleeding."

"What?" Draco's expression and tone changed dramatically. "What happened?"

"It was a battle, Malfoy. She got hurt. And now she's bleeding and asking for you."

"What are you not telling me, Potter?" Draco demanded.

"She's dying, okay? And she's fucking wasting her energy by asking for you. And that's the only damn reason I'm here. Now get your ass over there so she can call you a ferret one last time."

"She's not going to die, Potter. Magic heals, remember?" Draco said, panic rising like a bubble in his chest and gripping his lungs so it was hard to breathe and his voice sounded choked.

"She's got a great big hole in her." Harry said, swallowing hard. "Magic can't fix her. All we can do is drug her so she doesn't hurt and wait with her. She had to be brave, you know. Had to go and fucking save lives and-" Harry stopped, realising he was talking to thin air. Malfoy was gone.

&

Hermione didn't think she'd ever been in this much pain in her life. The painkillers had only taken the edge off, but Hermione was missing the lower part of her abdomen, and that was bound to hurt. The only reason her friends had fallen for her smiles and reassurances was the fact half her face was so numb that it couldn't form expressions of pain.

"Draco…" she whispered, the loudest tone she could manage without pain enough to make her scream.

"Harry's gone to get him." Ginny said reassuringly, taking Hermione's hand. "Though really, you don't want to waste your energy on insults." She smiled wryly, but Hermione didn't answer, closing her eyes briefly against waves of pain.

"Malfoy!" She opened her eyes again as she saw Draco push past Ron and Ginny and kneel by her bed, one hand taking hers and the other resting against her cheek.

"What have you done to yourself?" He said, his voice cracking. "I thought I told you not to play the hero!"

"_Dont be the hero."_ _This said as he buried his face in her neck for the last time before the battle._

"_What do you expect me to be?" she said, her smile evident in her voice._

"_Anything you put your clever little brain to. But not that." Draco pulled away, framing her face in his hands. "Not that."_

"_You dont think I could do it?" she asked with a smile. His expression remained serious and he kissed her._

"_No. I know you can do it. I just dont want you to, okay? I dont think I could bear it if you couldn't."_

"I couldn't help myself." Hermione replied. She reached up and ran her fingers through the cornsilk hair, her hand slipping down over his cheek. He grabbed her hand and held it against his skin, turning his face into it and kissing the palm.

"Don't leave me." he whispered raggedly. She smiled. "I need you. I love you."

"Draco-"

"Dont do this. Dont do this to me...to us. I need you here, I can't let you go." He insisted. She coughed, closing her eyes in pain, and Draco whirled on Harry. "You told me she wasn't in pain!"

"She isnt." Harry stepped forward.

"Look at her." Draco hissed. "Of course she is!"

"Draco." Hermione whispered, her voice soft. "Please don't fight. Not right now." Draco turned back.

"You're going to be okay." He insisted. She shook her head.

"I love you." She whispered. "I love them too. Tell them that, Draco." He clenched his jaw to stop tears falling but nodded anyway. "Love you." She said again. She coughed, wincing, and lay back in the makeshift bed, closing her eyes.

"Hermione! Hermione, don't you dare leave me here." Draco said, grabbing her hands regardless of the pain he could be causing her. She half smiled, but that was it. He watched her for a moment, then stood, turned and headed for the door.

"Malfoy, what was that?" Potter demanded, grabbing his arm. Draco shook him off, turning to the collection of people who stood in the room.

"She said she loves you." He said simply, and swept from the room before any of them had a chance to say anything. Once outside though, he found he had nowhere to go. Before him stretched the battlefield, stinking and echoing with the soft noise of the dead and dying. He couldn't bring himself to cross it, wondering if this was where Hermione had been hurt, if she had been near him, if he could have saved her. He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes and bowing his head.

"Malfoy?" He didn't answer the youngest Weasley, and he heard her come stand beside him. "She loved you very much, you know."

"I shouldn't have let her come." He whispered. He felt her put a hand on his arm.

"You could never have stopped her. And if you had, she would have hated you."

"I don't care!" He shouted suddenly, opening his eyes and turning on Ginny. "She could have hated me for all eternity as long as she was alive! And now she's not and what am I left with? She was the reason I joined you lot, the reason I didn't just step off the fucking astronomy tower. And now she's gone, and I'm alone and dammit, I loved her!" Ginny smiled slowly.

"And she knew that too." Ginny put her hands on his shoulders and made him look at her. "She died happy because you were there, Draco. She needed you to be there for her and you were. That's the most important thing anyone here has done all day. Look, take this," she handed him a small hourglass on a chain. "It's a portkey, it was Hermione's. It's not a real time turner so don't try it." She added warningly. "Take it. Go somewhere you can grieve."

"I'm not leaving her." He said stubbornly.

"Draco, listen to me. I knew all about you two. I have done for months. I will tell you everything about whats happening about her."

"They won't let me near her."

"I wont let them keep you from her. Just don't do anything stupid. She trusted you, she loved you. So I'll trust you. Now go. Before the boys come out here and use you to distract themselves from her." She pressed the chain into his hand and closed his fingers over it. "Go." She whispered, tears swimming in her green-blue eyes. He smiled brokenly and kissed her cheek before vanishing from the battlefield. Ginny pressed her lips together tightly and closed her eyes as the tears threatened to overflow, then turned to go back into the tent.

&

Draco reappeared on a hill miles away from the battlefield, but he could still see the faint haze of smoke. He turned away and inspected his surroundings before staring in shock. He hadnt set the portkey: Ginny must have done. But how she knew about this hill he didn't know.

It was the hill where he had first thrown caution to the wind and kissed her. The hill where she had kissed him back. The place where he had first admitted he loved her, and where she had admitted the same. The hill where they had stargazed, the hill where she had patiently and without judgement patched him back together after his father had hurt him for the last time. The hill where he had, just last night, asked her to marry him. The hill where she had accepted.

Draco sank onto the grass and drew his knees up to his chest, clasping his arms around them and bowing his head on to them. He had no clue what he was going to do without her.


End file.
